


"Watch Your Step."

by impulse_baker



Series: 100 Ways to Say 'I Love You' [17]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Boys In Love, Dean Hates Witches, Dean Winchester Takes Care of Castiel, Dean is a Sweetheart, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Protective Dean Winchester, Tender Dean, tender love and care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 19:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13642617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impulse_baker/pseuds/impulse_baker
Summary: Cas gets seriously hurt during a witch hunt. Dean takes good care of him.I mostly wrote this one to set up Cas' wings...





	"Watch Your Step."

If you asked Dean Winchester to choose one supernatural being that he hated most, he wouldn’t be able to tell you because he hates them all. But if you were to tell him you would shave Sam’s head if he told you what he hated most, he would tell you, _witches._

Witches, especially well-trained ones, were hard to catch, easy to miss, and entirely too eager to be clever in how they made people suffer. Unfortunately for him, being a well-known hunter meant whenever they got into a sticky situation with witches, they were particularly vengeful.

This was one such sticky instance.

He and Cas were tied up in chairs a few feet apart, facing each other, in what he assumed was their basement. The two witches they were hunting managed to get a leg up on the two of them when they split up from Sam and Jack, and Dean was banking on his brother to figure out where they were, because the brother and sister duo knew some serious stuff, including spells to restrict Cas’ Grace.

They were currently alone, and honestly, he wasn’t sure where Douche 1 and 2 went, but he would make as much use of his time as he could.

“Cas, you doing ok over there, pal?”

“Yes. Mostly. I am deeply concerned over one thing, however.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“The binding spell they are using on me is drawing power from one of my own feathers.”

“I’m sorry… _what?_ Your feather?” Dean knew Cas had wings. He had seen their great and terrifying shadows. He had seen them burned into the dirt.

“Yes. While my wings do usually exist on a different plane, I am able to make them manifest in such a way that they are conceivable to your senses. You have referred to my rear as feathery on multiple occasions, Dean. I assumed that meant you understood my…biology, if you will.”

“Cas when I was calling out to your ‘feathery ass’ I was being facetious.”

“Well. Now you know.”

“Ok…so how the fuck did Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum get their hands on one of your feathers?”

Dean didn’t get an answer for a few moments, until he heard a grumbled out _shit_ come from Cas’ gravelly voice.

“Oh you’re cursing. Great. Great sign.” He gestured as much as he could while being to tied up to entreat an answer from his angel.

“Shakti.”

“Who?” Dean racked his brain but the name wasn’t ringing any bells.

“A witch I met from one of the first times I had ever been on Earth. She was a good witch. She did good things. Healed people. Helped crops grow. Increased farm animal fertility. Things that helped those who were often overlooked during her long lifetime.”

“What does she have to do with any of the shit we’re in right now?”

“I gave her one of my feathers. It contained traces of my Grace that she could use to give her magic more power.”

“Ok so you think these guys stole it from her?”

“No, Dean. Karthik and Sundari are her grandchildren.”

“How do you know?”

Castiel leveled Dean with an unimpressed cocked eyebrow and pursed lips, as if to say _bitch please I can smell a bladder infection a month after it has been treated, sensing bloodlines is child’s play._

“Ok…so…grandkids gone wild? Sweet old granny teaches them to be powerful witches and they take her shit and go dark?”

“Something like that.”

“Well fuck.”

“Indeed.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the witches coming back downstairs.

“Haven’t figured out how to get loose, yet, boys?” Sundari sneered in her subtle British accent, as she twirled a blade in her hand.

Her brother approached Cas slowly before bending over to be eye level with his hands on the angel’s shoulders.

“You know what, Sun? I like this one. Maybe we can keep him and get rid of the hunter.”

“Karthik if you want a pet, get a cat. I don’t think he’d be too happy staying with you if you killed his little lover boy.”

Dean saw his angel flinch and look down at her last remark and his insides flared with shame and anger. “Don’t fucking touch him.” He spat.

“Aww you mean like this?” Karthik straddled Cas’ legs and wrapped his arms around his straining neck. He turned to look at Dean smugly. “What are you going to do about it?”

_Fuck, Sam, where the hell are you?_

“You ever think about how your angel likes to be touched?” He asked Dean, and then turned to Castiel, “Does he touch you the way you want? I could be everything you ever need.”

His blue eyes steeled, and he cocked his head that Dean recognized as his set up to intimidation.

“What happened to your grandmother?”

Both witches were clearly taken aback, and they traded a look.

“Fuck off. Karthik, we should just kill them both before the tall one finds them.”

“What happened to Shakti?”

Hearing her name finally got a reaction and the witch in Cas’ lap took the blade from his sister and held it up to Cas’ face. “What do you know about her?”

“I know that she was a good woman and a brilliant witch. I know that she planned to outlive us all. I know that she would be ashamed of your wrong doings.”

“I would stop talking, if I were you. It would be a shame if I had to ruin such a pretty face.”

In typical Cas fashion, he didn’t stop talking. Even when they started cutting into him with small but deep movements, he hardened his posture and continued his line of questioning. Intermittently Karthik would turn to look at Dean and throw some comment about him never getting this _kinky_ with the angel or some other sick bullshit that Dean didn’t want to hear. He raged and growled and struggled against his restraints, but he was helpless to watch his angel be tortured. They paid him little attention beyond that, however, so when Sam finally stormed in, they barely had time to react before the younger Winchester shot two witch killing bullets through their heads.

As soon as Sam untied him, Dean was on Cas, getting rid of the physical bindings and then cradling his pale, sweat covered face to get a read on how he was.

“Sam, he isn’t healing. They weren’t even using an angel blade! How did they hurt him?” Dean started panicking. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t ever supposed to see his angel like this ever again. He wasn’t supposed to ever be helpless to help him, but right now he couldn’t even understand what was going on.

Jack offered his hand out to heal his adopted father, but Cas shook his head.

“The binding spell. It needs to be undone. Find my feather. My Grace should be unbound if you burn it.”

Just like that, Dean was tearing the house apart. He was just about ready to burn the whole place down when he found an iridescent black feather on top of what were the ashen remains of the spell ingredients. There was a brief, fleeting moment when Dean paused to just hold the feather, feel the softness in his hand. _Maybe Cas would show him his real wings sometime._

He ran back down and held it up for Cas to see.

“Is this it?”

“Yes.”

That was all Dean needed to hear and the small thing went up in blue-white flames.

 

Sam and Jack stayed behind to get rid of the bodies and search the house for anything important or dangerous left behind, while Dean took Cas back to their motel.

Use of his Grace was returning slowly, but Dean had no problem shouldering some of Cas weight and slowly walking up the stairs.

“Watch your step.” Dean tightened his hold around his angel’s waist and tried to act as a crutch.

Dean felt like the cuts were through his own skin every time Cas winced.

 

By the time they got back to the motel, all the wounds were healed on the surface, but Cas looked worse for wear. Once upon a time, Dean probably would’ve patted him on the back and told him to sleep it off or something. But Dean had seen Cas hurt too many times. He had seen the light of his Grace shine through slits in his skin too many times. He had seen his still body too many times.

So he helped his angel out of his clothes, taking care with the buttons on his cuffs, rolling his socks down, all until he was down to just his boxers. He laid him down on the bed and went quickly to the bathroom to fill their small ice bucket with hot water and soap and grab several wash cloths.

Tenderly, Dean gave his angel what was essentially a warm bed bath, like he had seen them do on _Dr. Sexy_. And when all traces of blood and sweat were washed away, he stripped down to a t shirt and boxers and curled in beside Cas in bed.

“Is this ok?”

His angel nodded and pulled one of Dean’s arms over his middle and twined their fingers.

Sure, he didn’t exactly know every single way Cas liked to be touched. But he could learn.

He _would_ learn.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a thing about Cas' wings. A big BIG thing. So this was mainly to introduce the idea I have about his wings and to set up for later appearances.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this! Let me know what you think!
> 
> Previous work: "It's Okay I Couldn't Sleep Anyway."  
> Next work: "Here, Drink This. You'll Feel Better."


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